SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Roofing Projects for new government buildings and for Repairing existing government buildings is expensive, but it would Save a lot of money over time if we added Solar Panels at the same time as roof work is being contracted. The installation costs would be reduced greatly and the electrical savings would more than make up for the smaller construction cost over time and would lower our dependence on energy. It would... more »

Set up furnace boilers to incinerate the office waste including papers and then use steam turbines to generate Electricity. Waste incineration can be done at each Federal complex like it is already being done at hospitals.

This becomes a local supply of electricity that is self contained (and thus ideally unaffected by power grid meltdowns, terrorism acts, storms and blackouts). The office buildings can use it for consumption... more »

There are a number of technological advances that employees can benefit from including instant messaging, web meetings, etc. Many long-standing employees fear the change to a more virtual environment mostly due to lack of training, inadequate communication of the availability of the tools, and lack of support by senior management to implement the tools. We need to move away from old school thinking and adopt greener,... more »

Currently, the U.S. government spends in excess of $1 billion annually to license software -- software that produces documents that are difficult to access after a few years because the new version of the software often doesn't work with the older documents. Since the document formats are proprietary, we have no way to access these documents other than by maintaining the unsupported older software. This has made transparency... more »

In my agency, and I presume others, the telework policy and the IT security policy directly contradict each other. DOT and other organizations need to support telework and IT security uniformly by validating all relevant policies against each other to make sure that the necessary and relevant guidance is uniform. This will reduce confusion during planning and implementation allowing for maximum participation in telework,... more »

Make a policy or law requiring a closed loop user feedback process for new, current and future Government Information Systems (software). This would provide Lean Six Sigma quantifiable data for senior leader decision makers. Not what the vendors, contractors think.

As software products are developed this will ensure the feedback is collected by a closed loop system to measure the usage, effectiveness and correct issues... more »

I still don't understand why we have all these agencies, departments, divisions and we use many different tools to pay employees. I shudder to think about all the money that we waste upgrading all these systems individually when we could maintain one system for all employees. Sure it would take some time to build and of course money, but in the long run it would ensure a consistent experience for employees and ease... more »

In my agency, we have annual "learning colleges" where colleagues present information on topics of interest to the agency. It would aid in knowledge retention and information transfer if ALL conference presentations were recorded and maintained by a designated entity within each agency. This would allow employees who are brought on staff after conferences occur to still benefit from the conference by viewing presentations... more »

Instead of changing the many passwords that we need to enter every 60 or 90 days, we should be allowed to choose one password to last indefinitely. Also, make stronger requirements for a long lasting password. Include letters, characters, and numbers, and make sure it is sufficiently long.

It only takes five minutes to change a password, but with multiple passwords changing frequently, the time can add up. Also, time... more »

Keeping track of the hours worked of millions of federal employees is an important job. Federal workers do not get paid automatically by salary, although many folks have rigged the electronic timesheet system that way. We can save our nation money by putting in an old fashioned honest day's work, day in and day out. But who is keeping track/ Who is watching? In certain branches a few supervisors are watching, but by and... more »

Each branch, department, and/or division should develop a "Communications Guide". The purpose of this guide is to assist internal staff and external partners in selecting and setting up the best communication tool available to both parties. The guide will provide step-by-step details on how to register for it, access the technology, use it, list equipment needed, and other applicable details. Examples of technologies... more »

All documentation within our systems should be electronic, as it allows us to better manage, organize, store, transport and replicate information. We will save a lot, by implementing this initiative completely. With the production of large amounts of documentation there is a lot of overhead.

Agencies must supply not only the printers but all the parts to maintain them – along with service contracts and of course, paper.... more »

Close half of the federal recreation sites - use funds to improve the remaining sites to provide substantial ammenities to the public, use more funds to provide better publications and web services.

Make all federal passes available on-line at USGS Store (not just mail in for the Senior and Access passes). Mandate that all passes and permits be available from USGS Store (forest/park specific passes)- and only USGS... more »

Move all services provided by federal agencies on-line, with electronic submission. Have one (1) website that is a government service site for public services and then have a feature similar to sites such as OhRanger, where the person requesting a service can select what they are looking for - the agency, form, task, etc. and the site provides services as determined by the search.

The pager system especially for physciains is an outdated system that no longer serves a purpose especially when almost all of us have cellular phones or smartphones. Eliminate the pager system and work phones and allow employees to use their own mobile phones.